³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.^{(A) 32} Go ahead, then, and complete^(B) what your ancestors started!^(C)

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers!^(D) How will you escape being condemned to hell?^{(E) 34} Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify;^(F) others you will flog in your synagogues^(G) and pursue from town to town.^{(H) 35} And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel^(I) to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,^(J) whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.^{(K) 36} Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.^(L)

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,^(M) how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,^(N) and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate.^{(O) 39} For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[a]”^(P)

The Greatest Commandment^(A)

²⁸ One of the teachers of the law^(B) came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a] 30} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^{[b](C) 31} The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[c](D) There is no commandment greater than these.”

³² “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.^{(E) 33} To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”^(F)

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”^(G) And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.^(H)